Glance AI, a brand owned by mobile advertising company InMobi, has announced a partnership with the Samsung Galaxy Store to roll out its e-commerce platform to Galaxy phones in the US. The companyâs app centers around what it calls âa Generative AI shopping platform,â which is a serious contender for the most cursed phrase Iâve read today. The âexperienceâ comprises both a standalone app and a lock screen component to try and sell you clothes. Crucially, the whole thing is âfully opt-in,â which, thank Christ. But even if you opt out â which you absolutely should! â this feels like a sign of things to come as advertisers try to leverage AI to sell us more stuff. Buckle up.
You may remember InMobi as the company ruining Motorolaâs otherwise decent budget phones with a bunch of e-commerce nonsense. The version of this that Galaxy owners might see centers on a feature that uses gen AI and a photo of you to create images of you wearing different outfits, with new âlooksâ available every day. Unsurprisingly, you can buy the clothes with a tap. This can all happen on your lock screen, and for some reason you can save these AI generated creations as lock screen wallpapers. I will not be doing this.
Glance AIâs lock screen features appear to vary by region; in India, where InMobi was founded, Glance lock screens show ads in addition to things like news updates and sports scores. The implementation on Samsung phones doesnât seem to include ads, mercifully, at least for now. I donât know about you but I will absolutely throw my phone into the sea the first time I see an ad on my lock screen, so I hope this never comes to pass.
Glance AI is rolling out to Samsung Galaxy S22, S23, S24, and S25-series phones starting today, and should reach âa full 100% scaleâ in the next 30 days. Presumably itâll arrive as an optional download in the Galaxy Store when that happens, though I wouldnât be surprised if it comes with a push notification encouraging users to go download it.
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